18% U.S. Smartphone Users Access Location-Based Services

As location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla continue to gather momentum and marketer interest, comScore estimates 17.6 percent of U.S. smartphone users accessed at least one “check-in”-oriented mobile platform during the month of March, representing 7.1 percent of the nation’s entire mobile population.

The online measurement firm also reported LBS users are more likely to interact with other forms of mobile media and content than non LBS-using smartphone owners. For example, they demonstrated a higher propensity for consuming news content through their handsets, as well as accessing restaurant information and online retail sites, based on data collected in the three-month period ending March 31.

LBS users were also more likely to own a tablet, and a higher percentage recalled seeing ads on their mobile devices. In terms of demographics, 13-34 year olds accounted for the majority of users for location services, representing 66.8 percent.

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GroupM predicts that global ad spend will top $547 billion next year, up from $524 billion this year. While television will still capture the biggest share of that 12-figure pie (41%), digital's share will grow from 31% to 33%.